Open letter to Life With Derek TPTB

Open Letter
Title:	Open letter to TPTB
From:	sugah66
Addressed To:	Daphne Ballon
Date(s):	March 25, 2009
Medium:	Online
Fandom:	Life With Derek
Topic:	Season 4, Casey/Derek, Derek/Emily, and Casey/Truman
External Links:	direct link, archive link
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In 2009, a Livejournal user sugah66 wrote an open letter to Daphne Ballon, the creator of Life With Derek. In it, sugah66 expresses her opinions on how believable the season has so far been. It also describes her feelings towards the pairings Casey/Truman and Derek/Emily who both end up together in the season compared to the Casey/Derek of the season.

Message

"Dear Daphne,

Huh. You know, I don't think I got your message. Um, were you trying to say that Derek and Casey are stepsiblings (and will therefore never date), and Derek is dating Emily, and Casey is dating Truman? Because if you were, I totally missed that. I don't know how I would have, considering they said it about four hundred MILLION times. I guess I'm a stupid, clueless idiot who pays attention to the way things are being said, rather than just the words. I guess I pay attention to FOUR YEARS worth of stuff, rather than just a few episodes.

One time I was on the subway, and there was this guy trying to get people to give him money. This happens a lot to me (I live in New York City), but this guy sticks in my mind. He was telling this story about how he just needed $10 to make the Chinatown bus. He said repeatedly - and loudly, and obnoxiously - that he wasn't lying. Which naturally told me that he was lying. Because if you have to say something that many times, you're obviously trying to convince people of something that you know isn't true. (You ever hear the phrase "methinks thou doth protest too much"?)

Because, let's face it, the idea of Derek dating Emily is ridiculous. (Ridiculous in the kind of way that seriously angers me - I mean, did you even watch the past four seasons?) And if you don't already know how much everyone in the fandom hates Truman, you've been sitting in a cave on Mars with your eyes shut and your fingers plugging up your ears. (FYI, that means we all hate him. I spent every episode hoping he'd get hit by a bus.) I mean, if you feel the need to continually remind us that they're dating, you know it's because we don't buy it.

We. Don't. Buy. It. Please stop trying to sell it to us. (Seriously. Now it's just sad. And degrading. And disgusting.)

What we (and by "we" I mean the approximately 97% of fans who ship them - perhaps that's an overestimation, but there's a lot of us, and we're not shutting up) DO buy is Derek and Casey. I buy the way Derek prompted Casey to make a decision because he knew she was settling for something that wasn't good enough for her (staying home and going to school rather than going away). I buy the way Casey accepts Derek for who he is, no matter how often she claims otherwise (the smile on her face after he pulled his prank at graduation). I buy the way even THEY don't believe that they're at all related, if the last scene of the final episode is anything to go by. (You may see it one way - your actors see it another. The looks on their faces, the tone of their voices... Oh, yeah. There's two people who aren't going to date.) I buy the last FOUR seasons - the stolen glances, the abundance of touching, the secret smiles, the chemistry. I buy the little things they do for each other, the way they help each other out, the way they're always there for each other. I buy the way they bring out the best AND worst in each other. I buy the way they're the only ones who can handle the other. I buy Derek and Casey.

I don't buy that they only see each other as siblings, and I don't buy half the crap you tried to shovel us in season 4. Sally, Truman, Derek/Emily... It all seems like our opinion is trying to be swayed in an alternate direction (i.e. away from Derek/Casey). Well, my opinion wasn't swayed. I can't be stopped from shipping Derek/Casey, no matter what you throw at me, because I take one look at it and call bullshit. I know it's crap. (It's not wrong. It's not immoral. They're not really related. Related by marriage is not related. Trust me on this - I'm from Appalachia. Besides, the way they are with each other, the way they could be, how can that be wrong?)

All I need is the last scene of the last episode, and I'm good. So... Yeah. I'm good. (Oh. I'll also take "March Break". And "Tuesday Afternoon Fever". And "Summer School Blues". And "The Party". And "Battle of the Bands". And a dozen other episodes that only serve to solidify that half of season 4 is crap. I have eyes, and they work just as well as my ears. And it's harder to lie to eyes.)

Later.

P.S. I don't acknowledge "Surprise" as an actual episode. It was clearly written by people who have never watched the show. I don't need to watch it to know that. (That means I didn't watch it. I might have hurt someone.)"

Response

The letter was met with a lot of positive comments and agreements from fellow Casey/Derek fans:

"I love this. Took the words out of my mouth."

"Love it! Totally and complete agree with everything!

And the last episode one of my fave line was Casey to Truman, "...your relaxing technique is making me want to rip your face off."

LMFAO. Never said that to the MANY times Derek has helped her relax."

"Word. I loved Life with Derek. It was seriously one of the best young adult shows that were worth watching. And now...now I don't even recognize it."

"I'm glad this episode inspired you to write this. But really, this should be sent to Daphne. It pinponts everything the Dasey community is expressing right now. (I love how your P.S., because I share the same view.)"

"I love this! I swear Daphne needs to know how much Truman and Demily failed. Truman was just an asshole and the REAL (season 1,2,3) Casey would never go for him. Secondly, she already tried to do Demily and it failed then to. They had both agreed to be friends. I think Demily just came up because Daphne didn't want to write Derek a new girlfriend so late in the season so she just pulled Emily's name out of a hat. Is there anything wrong with Derek and Casey being single and focusing on other things besides having a boyfriend/girlfriend? With Derek I understand because he loves girls but Casey is supposed to be independent but I think living with Derek has rubbed off (once again another hint of Dasey). Casey just got ruined in S4. It sucks because I'm pretty sure Daphne DID NOT PLAN from the beginning to even go near Dasey. She should have seriously thought the concept over before writing characters with some serious UST. "